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Rickie Lambert
Rickie Lambert was a transfer deadline day signing for Rovers from Rochdale on 31 August 2006. He joined for a fee of £200,000 following the departure of Junior Agogo to Nottingham Forest the previous day. Rickie established himself as a first-choice striker in the Rovers first team, and scored some important goals, such as the one against Bristol City in the 1-0 victory that sent The Pirates to the final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in 2007, and the goal that put Rovers into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 50 years in a 1-0 victory over Southampton. A superb 2008-09 season, when he scored 29 league goals, led to a great deal of speculation about his future. He was linked with a number of clubs during the summer of 2009, and he finally tied up a deal to take him to Southampton for a fee in excess of £1,000,000 on 10 August 2009, one game into the 2009–10 season. Director of football Lennie Lawrence stated that Lambert was already the highest paid player in the history of the football club, and Southampton had offered to double his wages, making it extremely difficult to hold on to his services. Career Rickie began his professional career at Blackpool, but made just three substitute appearances for the club before moving on to Macclesfield Town on a free transfer. After playing in 49 games in all competitions for Macclesfield, scoring 10 goals, Stockport County paid £300,000 for his services in 2002. He remained with County for three years, making 110 appearances in all competitions and scoring 19 goals. In 2005 he joined Rochdale on a free transfer. This coincided with an upturn in his goalscoring rate, 28 goals in 68 games for The Dale gave an average of 0.41 goals/game, compared with 0.18 goals/game for his career up to this point. This was enough to bring him to the attention of the Rovers management, who signed him in 2006. Rickie's third season at the club was to prove his most successful. Not only did he easily finish the club's top scorer with 29, he was also League One's joint top scorer with Swindon Town's Simon Cox. His tally included a hat trick against Hereford and four against Southend, this first time he'd scored three (and ultimately four) in a match. This led to speculation, particularly during the January transfer window, that Rickie would be leaving the club, however he remained throughout the season. He eventually moved to Southampton one game into the 2009–10 season, and enjoyed a remarkable campaign. He was an ever-present in the League from the point he joined them and netted a remarkable thirty times, earning him the club's player of the season award, as well as being named the PFA Fans' Player of the Year for League One. Career stats Record against Rovers Rickie has played against Rovers eight times, and has only lost one of those games. He has scored four times against the Pirates in six wins and a draw against the club. Awards Accolades received by Rickie while at Rovers include: *League One Player of the Month – October 2008 *Bristol Rovers Player of the Year in 2008–09 *Included in 2008–09 PFA Team of the Year for League One Since leaving the Gas he has picked up even more awards with Southampton including the Football League Championship Player of the Year in 2012, a season which saw him and his teammates win promotion to the Premier League. International career After finishing the 2012–13 season as the Premier League's joint highest-scoring English player, Rickie was called up to the England squad in August 2013 for a friendly against Scotland. The game formed part of the Football League's 125th anniversary celebrations and was a replay of the first ever international match, a goalless draw played in Partick in 1872. He started the game on the bench, and had to wait until the 67th minute before he got onto the pitch, replacing Wayne Rooney with the score tied at 2–2. His impact was immediate and decisive, scoring England's winner with his first touch of the ball less than two minutes after joining the action. International appearances :N.B. England's score is given first. (Source: englandstats.com) Category:Players Category:Forwards Category:16 February Category:Players born in 1982 Category:Players who joined in 2006 Category:Blackpool Category:Macclesfield Town Category:Stockport County Category:Rochdale Category:Southampton Category:100+ league appearances Category:50+ league appearances